The present invention is a stand for supporting multiple musical instruments. More specifically, the musical instrument supporting stand of the present invention includes a locking foot pedal assembly that allows the operator to selectively lock and unlock a swiveling support post thereby facilitating ready access to a choice of musical instruments.
Musical instrument stands are used by professional musicians, school bands, and amateur musicians. Many musicians, be they professional or amateur, have the need to have more than one musical instrument available to them if they are performing on stage or if they are recording in the studio. Those who have several musical instruments have a need to be able to safely store their instruments when they are not using them or to have them readily available when they want to play them. In many music venues and recording studios, there is limited space to hold multiple musical instruments. It is also difficult to lift musical instruments out of fixed holding racks when the instrument is not directly in front and there is potential for damaging the instrument. Moving around fixed musical instrument stands in many music venues or in recording studios can be difficult. In many situations, there is an important commercial and artistic need for easy access to multiple musical instruments.
There are, of course, many prior art musical instrument stands. The current musical instrument stands are designed to hold from one to six musical instruments. The most common stand holds one instrument and the next most common stand holds two instruments. Stands that hold more than three instruments are usually of a rack design and can hold up to six instruments. The most common of these instrument stands are used for guitars, however different stands are used for a variety of musical instruments. Musical instrument stands are typically constructed from steel, and can have upper and lower instrument supports and usually have tripod legs that fold for ease of transportation. The musical instrument supports can be covered with soft material so as not to damage the instrument.
Most prior art musical instrument stands are designed to hold the instruments in a fixed position. One such prior art musical instrument stand is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,473 entitled Multiple Musical Instrument Supporting Stand and was issued to Hennessey on Oct. 3, 1995. This patent discloses a stand for supporting one or more guitars and comprises an upright post having three yokes at its upper end and three radially extending legs assembled on a hub at its lower end. Each leg carries a holding member, vertically aligned under a yoke and serving to receive the bottom strap knob of the guitar. The central post consists of an outer tube and an inner tube contained telescopically within the outer tube. Significantly, the inner tube includes a groove formed along its length for engagement of a thumb screw. The disclosure of the invention recites that the combination of the thumb screw and groove serves to xe2x80x9cprevent relative rotation of the componentsxe2x80x9d (emphasis added.) As such, this patent discloses a multiple musical instrument stand wherein the instruments are held in a fixed position.
Another example of the prior art in musical instrument stands is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,480 issued to Gathright on Oct. 5, 1982. This patent discloses a double guitar stand which includes a collapsible frame that fits into a carrying case. As is evident, this guitar stand holds a plurality of guitars in a fixed relationship and fixed in position.
An example of a rack-type multiple guitar stand that retains the instruments in a fixed position is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,901 entitled Guitar Support Apparatus and issued to Boor et al. on Sep. 22, 1992.
Finally, one more prior art example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,455,821 entitled Cradle for Bass Viola or Other Stringed Instruments issued to Stenger on Dec. 7, 1948. This patent discloses a support for violas or other musical instruments and is designed to hold multiple instruments in a fixed arrangement.
As can be seen, none of the prior art presents a musical instrument stand for supporting a plurality of instruments that swivels to permit ready access to the instrument of choice and also includes a locking mechanism to selectively lock and unlock the chosen instrument in its predetermined selected position.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a musical instrument stand that has the dual ability to hold multiple musical instruments in a fixed position and to also allow the instruments to swivel or rotate to a predetermined selected position.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a non-rack type musical instrument stand that holds more than three musical instruments.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide for the maximum storage of instruments in a limited space situation and to provide the best possible access to the instruments.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a musical instrument stand that would be commercially competitive and provide for ease of transportation and storage.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features, and further scope of applicability of the present invention will be set forth in the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
The present invention is a stand for supporting one or more musical instruments. The multiple musical instrument stand of the present invention swivels to permit the selected musical instrument to be made available directly in front of the user or in another predetermined selected position. Furthermore, through employment of a foot pedal, the selected instrument can be locked in position for ready access. The present invention comprises a swiveling support post and a fixed inner support post contained therein. The swiveling support post is selectively locked or unlocked in a desired position through employment of a locking swivel assembly. The locking swivel assembly includes a tension spring whose tension force is employed to exert braking pressure thereby locking the outer swivel post in a predetermined selected position. A foot pedal release mechanism is provided which releases the force on the tension spring thereby releasing the braking pressure and allowing free rotation of the outer swivel post. A folding tripod base portion provides support for the entire assembly and folds for ready storage. A plurality of upper and lower musical instrument supports are attached to the swiveling support post wherein said upper musical instrument supports are radially displaced to accommodate the maximum number of musical instruments. The upper and lower instrument supports fold to insure ease of transportation and storage.